Opposition parties under the Endumeni local municipality, formerly Dundee in the KwaZulu-Natal far midlands, are wielding the axe for mayor Siyabonga Ndlovu, saying he was not the right man for the job.
Among a string of accusations made against Ndlovu through a motion of no confidence was that he was missing in action. This as he failed to attend to oversight service delivery issues.
Long list of accusations against the mayor
The motion also claims that the mayor had also not declared his financial interests to the municipality’s executive committee.
Last week, DA’s councillor Saleem Abdool tabled the motion and he was supported by other councillors.
“The mayor has singlehandedly run the municipality to the ground. He lacks any professional conduct and frequently arrives in meetings late. [Ndlovu] has presided over gross wasteful expenditure. And this has put a strain on our ready dilapidated financial resources,” read the motion.
Other damning allegations levelled against Ndlovu are that the municipality has incurred an unnecessary expenditure. This by unlawfully using hired vehicles, with the council footing the bill. The bill is amounting to half a million.
In the motion, Saleem also claims that the vehicles were used for the mayor’s private trips. These accrued more than R30,000 in fuel costs. The DA also says Ndlovu was meddling in staff disciplinary issues by protecting those close to him.
Not the first motion of no confidence
The motion is set for Thursday.
Ndlovu was not reached for comment. It’s not for the first time that the IFP mayor has faced scrutiny. In April, he narrowly survived another motion of no confidence.
The Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) were the first party to call for his head. ABC councillor Mbulelo Phakathi accused the mayor of failing to address the council’s financial paralysis. This he said has been the case since Ndlovu assumed office in November 2021. Phakathi used the Auditor-General’s report in February as sufficient grounds for the mayor’s recusal.
Damning AG report on municipality
The report painted a bleak picture of mismanagement of financial resources in the council.
“There is no interest to good governance and proper revenue collection from the mayor. And there’s just no plan. The AG also noted grave concerns where the municipality has lost R100-million in revenue. Meaning we’re heading for bankruptcy,” said Phakathi in his submission.
Ndlovu went on to survive the motion with seven councillors voting against his removal. While six supported the motion by the ABC.
